


Too Sweet

by jeleania



Series: Making It Work [1]
Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Brothers, Gen, Headcanon, Mentions of Starvation, aw poor Jackie..., awesome!understanding!Jamie, puking, then it got a bit icky, was supposed to be fun and sweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-13
Updated: 2013-07-13
Packaged: 2017-12-20 02:46:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/882037
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jeleania/pseuds/jeleania
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Jamie learns that Jack hasn't had ice cream before, he's determined to fix this. Jack isn't so sure about this...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Too Sweet

**Author's Note:**

> pulled the prompt from a bennefrost week's list, but I'm not gonna ship a twelve year old kid with anyone. plus it works well as brothers/friends too.
> 
> cross-post from my fanfiction.net account
> 
> Prompt - trying new things

"Wait a minute, what did you say?"

Jack blinked and repeated himself. "That Bunny was orange and pink?"

Jamie waved his hands, eyes still wide. "No, before that."

"Taught the elves to paintball."

"The other thing."

"Sling shots?"

Exasperated, Jamie gave Jack a Look. "The part about ice cream."

"I fed some to the elves as incentive? There were at least a dozen flavors in the freezer? That I've not had any?"

"You've never had ice cream?"

Confused and a bit wary, Jack slowly answered. "Yes?"

The twelve year old just stared at the winter spirit a long moment. With a shake of the head to restart his brain, a determined expression settled onto Jamie Bennett's face. "Okay, that. That isn't right. That's like a crime or something."

"What?" Jack was very confused right now.

"You've never had ice cream!"

Feeling annoyed and defensive, Jack crossed his arms. "So? What's the big deal?"

"The big deal?! Ice cream is awesome! It's cold and sweet and there's all these different flavors and toppings so everyone can find something they like and you can eat it any time and - "

Chuckling, Jack put a hand on the babbled pre-teen's shoulder. "Whoa, hey, breathe, kiddo." Once Jamie complied, Jack continued, a small smile quirking his lips. "Okay, so ice cream is pretty cool, I guess."

Pointing a finger for emphasis, Jamie tagged on. "Not just cool. It's fun. Fun for kids and teens and adults all over the world."

Nodding slowly, Jack agreed. "Okay, I'll give you that. I have seen people all over eating ice cream. Though some of them may have been frozen yogurt. Or gelato. Or - "

"They're like ice cream." Jamie cut in. If he let him, Jack could ramble on and on. After all, the winter spirit hadn't had anyone to talk to in hundreds of years before Jamie and the Guardians befriended him. "We're missing the point."

"Which is?" Jack tried to fight back a smile. Jamie looked so cute being all serious like that.

The boy sighed. The eternally-young teen in front of him still didn't get it. Time to spell it out. "You have never had ice cream. This is a tragedy. It's fun, and as the Guardian of Fun -"

"There's other fun things I haven't done."

Pushing onward, Jamie raised his voice a tad. "As the Guardian of Fun, you should have experienced the awesomeness of ice cream." Jamie shot Jack a Look as the winter spirit stifled snickers. "We must rectify this. You must try some ice cream."

The humor dropped from Jack's countenance. Unease crept into its place. "Uh, wait, Jamie - "

Shaking his head, Jamie jumped in. "Nope, we must fix this."

"Jamie -" Jack found his wrist grabbed and Jamie pulling him out of the living room and into the Bennett kitchen.

"its gonna be great." Jamie let go of Jack and opened the freezer, pulling out three quarts of ice cream.

"I don't -" Jack blinked. "Why do you have three flavors?"

"Mom likes rocky road." Jamie pulled out a bowl from the cupboard. "Sophie like chocolate swirl." He dug around for the ice cream scoop, it was somewhere in this drawer. "Aha! Here it is." Turning back to the kitchen island, Jamie pried open the ice cream containers. "And I like mint and chip. Though I like just about every ice cream I've tried, so the mint and chip is just the flavor of the month."

"Oh." Jack didn't know what to say to that. He watched, chewing his bottom lip as three huge scoops of ice cream were plopped into the bowl. "I'm not sure I can eat all that."

"Don't worry, I'll help." Jamie put the ice cream containers away, then started digging in the fridge and cupboards for toppings.

"Oh good." Maybe he could get away with just a small spoon of each...

"But you gotta have like half of it."

Damn, there goes that idea.

"Um, Jamie, I'm not sure - What are you doing?"

Done sprinkling the frozen treat with gummy bears and M&Ms, Jamie turned to the next can. "Putting on toppings. You gotta have toppings on your first ever ice cream."

Unease twisted his guts. Jack swallowed heavily. "That's a lot -"

"You okay with nuts?" Jamie paused with a handful in one fist.

"Nuts?" Jack blinked.

"Are you allergic to nuts?"

"No. I've never had problems with nuts."

"Good." Jamie released the peanuts onto the growing confection.

It was like watching a train wreck, Jack couldn't tear his eyes away. "Jamie, I don't think - "

"This is gonna be great." Jamie said absently, pouring chocolate syrup and caramel sauce. Planting three maraschino cherries on top, he leaned back, gazing proudly at his masterpiece. "Done."

Jack stared, dread making him feel nauseous. Not only was there ice cream, but gummy bears, M&Ms, banana slices, two kinds of nuts, chocolate covered some-kind-of-fruit, chocolate and caramel sauces, whipped cream in original white and light brown chocolate, and three sugary wanna-be cherries. A riot of flavors and sugar filled treats.

He couldn't eat that.

He had to tell Jamie -

"Here."

Jack blinked. While he had been staring, Jamie had cleaned up the island save their monstrous sundae. Now he was sitting on a stool next to Jack, holding out a spoon.

"Jamie, I..."

Jack trailed off. His little brother / best friend / most important person looked so damn sweet and hopeful and -

Damnit.

Taking the spoon and pasting a smile on his face, Jack forced a cheerful note into his voice. "I can't wait to taste this."

A blinding smile came in reply.

Turning to the ice cream sundae of doom, Jack took a deep breath before the plunge.

This wasn't going to end well.

Ten minutes later, they had made their way through a bit more than half the mountain of sweets. Jamie was still going strong, babbling away between - or sometimes through - bites about all the different flavors and toppings he had to introduce his friend to next time. 

Jack didn't here a word of it.

Stubbornly scooping up another spoonful of rocky road, Jack made himself chew through the nuts and banana slice that came for the ride and swallow it all down. His stomach churned uncomfortably, cramping in protest. Taking a few steadying breaths, the teen grit his teeth and reached for more. The stuff tasted great, don't get him wrong. It just wasn't sitting well. If he just kept taking it slow and steady, maybe Jamie wouldn't notice the fact the younger boy was eating more than him.

Please don't let Jamie notice.

Please just let him -

Unpleasant heat rushed through the winter spirit as his stomach tried to crawl up his throat. Jack paused with a spoon of chocolate swirl nearly to his mouth, swallowing hard in an attempt to keep it down. Sweat beaded his brow as he closed his eyes and breathed.

He would make it through this. He would not disappoint his little brother. He would -

Shit.

Jamie stopped mid word in surprise as Jack dropped the spoon full of ice cream and dashed from the kitchen. Following his path with startled eyes, the boy blinked once, twice, tilted his head in confusion (a move he'd picked up from Jack). Stabbing his spoon into the bowl absentmindedly, he rose and trekked curiously after his big brother. 

Brown eyes widened in concern at the unpleasant sounds coming from the downstairs bathroom.

Quietly pushing open the half-closed door, Jamie wrinkled his nose in sympathetic disgust to see Jack heaving his stomach contents into the toilet bowl. Trying not to look at his brother's display, the boy used the sink to fill a little paper cup with water and soak a wash cloth. By the time he had wrung out some of the excess water, the heaving had stopped. Turning toward the toilet, Jamie found Jack panting as he rested his forehead against one arm curled on the toilet seat.

"Done?" Jamie softly queried.

A tired nod was given in reply.

The twelve year old placed a hand on his friend's shoulder as he offered the paper cup. Jack obligingly rinsed and spit before leaning back against the tub, blue eyes falling wearily closed. After flushing the toilet while trying not to look inside, Jamie used the wet towel to wipe the sweat and bit of vomit from the winter spirit's flushed face. (Turns out Jack blushed blue, who knew?) Jamie rinsed the towel again then returned to fold it over Jack's forehead. That done, Jamie sat down next to Jack, leaning against the immortal's shoulder. Jack's arm wrapped around him and tucked the boy into his side, squeezing slightly in comfort.

Minutes passed in silence, both boys just breathing.

"You feeling better?" Jamie whispered.

"Yeah." Jack murmured back. "Sorry about that."

"It's okay." He fidgeted a bit. "What caused it, do you know? 'Cause I could make sure not to put that in next time."

Jack sighed and pulled the wet towel over his eyes. He didn't want to answer that, but he didn't want to lie either. The kid was worried and deserved the truth.

"It wasn't any one thing, Jamie."

"Oh." Jamie licked his lips nervously. Should he keep asking or just let it go?

"It - I - " Jack heaved a sigh, then made himself push onward. "I don't eat. Or at least not much. Haven't for centuries."

"Oh. Do spirits not eat?"

"We do. It's just that - " It was Jack's turn to fidget. Damn, admitting this was hard. 

"I - I got used to not eating. I didn't feel comfortable stealing food from people in the beginning. They had to work hard for it, farming and hunting and everything. Then later, I'd find food but I'd see these kids living in the streets, starving and begging, and I couldn't stand to see them going hungry. So I gave my food to them. I was immortal. I wasn't going to starve to death. If I was going to, I already would have by that point. But they would. They would and I could do something to help them, so they could survive another day, because maybe the next day things would get better for them. So I gave food I found or stole to street kids."

Jack snuck a look at the kid. Jamie was staring wide eyed and slightly agape. Cringing slightly, Jack hurried to reassure him. "I still ate! Just - just not much."

The teen looked away, unable to hold his friend's gaze. "I ate. An apple here, some nuts there. Not much, but something. But since I got used to not eating much, I have to be careful. My body has to adjust to eating, to having food. I gotta go slow and simple. Bread, broth and soups, stuff like that."

Jamie nodded slowly, his mind wrapping itself around this new somewhat horrifying information. "So no sugar."

Daring to look at Jamie again, Jack relaxed a bit at seeing the kid's thoughtful expression, much better than horror. "I can do a bit of sugar. A cookie or two at a time."

"But not as much as we had out there." Jamie realized. Feeling guilt curl in his chest, he looked up at Jack. "Why didn't you say anything? I wouldn't have made you eat any of that if I'd known."

"I know, I know." Jack squeezed Jamie again with the arm still around him. "I just..."

Jamie watched Jack's gaze drop, the teen avoiding looking at him. "You just what?" He gently coaxed.

Blast, Jamie was the only one who get him to talk like this. "I - You were so excited and happy and - and I..." His voice dropped into a mumble. "I didn't want to upset you, to disappoint you."

Having been close enough to catch and decipher that last bit, Jamie blinked a few times, taking in those words. Jack didn't want to disappoint him? Jamie was the one worried that Jack would get bored of a kid who didn't have anything special about him. What in the world did Jack have to worry about disappointing him for?

With an exasperated sigh and an amused smile curling his lips, Jamie wrapped his arms around Jack's torso and gave his friend a gentle but firm hug. A few seconds later, Jack relaxed - he still wasn't used to hugs, despite Jamie's efforts - and returned the embrace with both arms. 

Snuggling his head onto Jack's shoulder, Jamie softly said, "Next time, I'll get you started on plain vanilla, small scoop. And if you can't eat it all, that's okay."

Chuckling softly and thanking the stars for Jamie being such a great kid, Jack answered. "Sounds good. The sundae tasted good. I just gotta build up to that."

Nodding, Jamie pulled back a bit and looked up into Jack's tired face. "Wanna watch a movie?"

"Sure."

Half an hour later, the pair were on the couch of the living room, watching Loki steal the Tesseract from the SHIELD operatives. Jack was curled on his side and using Jamie's lap as a pillow, blue eyes struggling to stay open. Throwing up was tiring, after all. 

As Jack fell asleep, Jamie absently ran his fingers through the head of soft white hair, a smile curling his lips.

A thought darted through Jamie's mind. He wondered if the other Guardians knew about Jack's eating habits. With a little shrug, he set it aside. 

Surely they did. They were Jack's friends. They'd take the time to get to know him and find out this stuff.

Right?

**Author's Note:**

> might revisit this world if there's any interest...


End file.
